How do I "keep my distance" from a Facebook friend?

[November]

I have a facebook friend and I don't want to see any of their updates, posts, etc but I don't want to completely remove them from my friends list..."Block" under privacy settings is the only thing I can find...(which is pretty drastic)...what else can I do so I don't have to read any of their news but keep them as a friend?

[Joseph]

Hover your mouse over a news item by that friend. On the right side of that line a button should appear marked "Options." Click on that and there is a button marked "Less About ____." Just select that and you'll see fewer news items about that friend.

[dmckie]

1) Log into Facebook
2) Scroll to the bottom of your news feed
3) Select the link "Options for News Feed"
4) In here you can set the types of news feed you get and in particular for your question You can select up to 145 friends that you prefer not to see in your News Feed. You will only get stories about these people if nothing else is available.

Note - this only prevents you from seeing their updates - if you want to limit what updates they see from you let me know and I'll post an answer to that also.